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Case Study

Connectivity on the move

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Overview

The Charles County Public Library operates a mobile library that brings library services to communities across Charles County, Maryland. To stay connected on the move, the mobile library relies on a Plum Case for portable broadband.

About

Charles County Mobile Library serves community members who may not have easy access to a physical branch, reaching underserved populations across the county’s diverse landscape. It also gives residents without home internet a place to get online.

The 26-foot vehicle, with 17 feet of loading space, includes a wheelchair lift, a side awning for outdoor programming, two public computer stations, and capacity for up to 2,000 books. Onboard, patrons can access adult, teen, and children’s collections, online resources and databases, free Wi-Fi, and public-use computers.

Challenge

Charles County spans a diverse landscape that includes rural areas with limited wireless coverage, where many connected homes still depend on slow DSL service. For a library on wheels, that created a core challenge: delivering fast, reliable internet everywhere the vehicle traveled, without building a complex, permanently installed network into the truck itself.

The IT team needed connectivity that could match the performance of an integrated in-vehicle network while staying simple to deploy and easy to move.

The Plum Case was our first choice for connectivity. I'd been interested in the Plum Case for a while, at least a year before we launched the mobile library. With Plum's antenna technology, I was confident it would be better than the other options, and we have not been disappointed.
Raymond Reed, IT Manager, Charles County Public Library

Solution

Raymond Reed, IT Manager for CCPL, was adamant about deploying a Plum Case to meet the mobile library’s connectivity needs. As his team prepared the network topography, they evaluated several options — building integrated network hardware directly into the vehicle, deploying hotspots, or leveraging Plum Case portable broadband kits.

The hardwired approach meant outfitting trucks with shelving, routers, ports, and switches. As Raymond put it, the Plum Case is essentially that same network in a box — just as capable as any mobile network they could build, but in a far simpler form. For a mobile application, that simplicity and space savings were a key reason Plum came out on top.

Outcome

In areas where DSL delivered just 2 Mbps, the Plum Case reached download speeds of up to 25 Mbps. “It works great!” Raymond reported.

The mobile library also proved its value during COVID-19 lockdowns. It was the first branch to reopen, restoring in-person library services, public computer access, internet, and printing for the community. When local schools shifted to virtual learning, the mobile library broadcast free Wi-Fi to surrounding areas, a benefit that had an outsized impact on students and families. The community response has been overwhelmingly positive.